Another week, another disappointed Lions fan base. The good news is you have permission to retake your Sundays since there doesn’t seem to be any good reason to invest yourself into this team. The talent isn’t there and neither is the heart.
This is the second week in a row the Lions were absolutely beat up. The Lions are now 0-3 which means the 2015 season is pretty much over. These types of holes after week three is something teams just don’t come back from in this era of the NFL so please feel free to fire up the draft talk…
So what went wrong?
This list reads like your mom’s grocery list…
- The Lions had no answer for pass rusher Von Miller and his abuse of LaAdrian Waddle.
- Detroit’s 1st round pick in 2015 Laken Tomlinson looks out classed on the field by either getting beat, a late jump of the snap, or committing a false start.
- To make matters worse Riley Reiff is not an NFL left tackle for a contender. Reiff already has had a three game stretch he’d like to forget dating back the last year’s playoff game in Dallas when he had a date with elite Demarcus Ware.
- Finally “Big Play” Slay decided to talk trash to a legend in Peyton Manning and Manning simply took the kid to school, dead arm and all. And not to pile on Slay but he also had the special teams blunder that allowed Denver to re-kick a missed 53 yd field. How at this point is he lining up wrong? Coaching? Mental mistake? Unacceptable!
- The offensive line as a unit is abysmal. They don’t pass block nor do they protect the quarterback making it a tough day for anyone with the title of offensive coordinator. The truth is we have no idea if Lombardi running the offense is the problem because the o-line has been such a big issue. Matthew Stafford can’t read the field and Detroit can’t run the ball. Its like trying to build a bridge with toothpicks. And frankly if Demaryius Thomas doesn’t drop three passes this game was more like 31 or 34 to 12 in favor of Denver.
Another dark cloud over Ford Field was Stafford.
It really doesn’t matter who you are, you aren’t winning games if your quarterback turns the ball over three times. No. 9 was able to find Calvin Johnson in this game but his eyes being glued to Megatron did CJ no favors. Johnson had eight catches for 77 yards one of which went for 25 yards, meaning Calvin caught the other seven receptions for only 52 yards. Not good numbers folks.
Can the loyalty to Joquie Bell end yet? I know he is good guy and the hometown story, but that doesn’t win football games either. Ten carries for six yards is awful. I know the offensive line leaves a lot to be desired, but at best he was a rotational back that picked up some tough yards and caught a few screen passes. That however was two years ago.
Are there any positives?
Yes, TJ Jones showed he needs to handle the kick and punt returns. He has good instinct to be an NFL return man and his style of running suggests he should get some time on offense. This would also allow for Ameer Abdullah to be taken out of the kick returner role and get him more touches in the back field. Other than that there isn’t anything good coming out of the Lions through week three.